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Diiniel 5l)fti£ftn. 



EULOGY 



ON 



DAIIEL WEBSTER, 



DELIVERED IN 



SYEACUSE, N. Y., NOV. 13, 1862. 



BY 



THOMAS T: DAVLS, 




<• ■» " • 



SYRACUSE : 

HALL, MILLS & CO., rUBLISIIERS. 



miNTED AT THE DAILY STAR OFFICE. 

1852. 



'^' 



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PROCEEDINGS 
IN THE CITY OF SYRACUSE, 

COMMEMOEATIjSra THE DEATH OF 

DANIEL WEBSTER. 



Puf suant to proclamation by the Mayor, the members of the Com- 
mon Council of this city, together with a number of our citizens, as- 
sembled yesterday at the City Hall, at 12 o'clock. 

Alderman Geeen called the meeting to order, and nominated Hon. 
JASOl^'" C. WOODRUFF for President. 

The President then announced that the object of the meeting was 
to devise suitable measures to pay respect to the memory of the late 
DANIEL WEBSTER, and that the Common Council deemed it ap- 
propriate to invite citizens to assemble for that purpose. 

Messrs. Daniel Dana, Hervet Riioades, Haevet Baldwust, 
TnoMAs T. Davis, were elected Vice Presidents, and S. Coenixg 
JuDD, chosen Secretary. 

Alderman Salmon^ Messrs. T. T. Davis and J. L. Newoomb were 
then appointed a committee to draft suitable resolutions for the con- 
sideration of the meeting. 

Mr. Salmon, as Chairman of the Committee, offered the following 
Preamble and Resolutions, prepared by J. G. Foebes, Esq., whose 
illness prevented his attendance. 

Whereas, On this day and at this hour, the mortal remains of 
DANIEL WEBSTER are being consigned to their kindred dust, and 
as we fondly hope, the great spirit, by which that frail tenement was 
inhabited, has passed from this earth to the world beyond the stars, 
it seems peculiarly ^proper that the people who claimed him while 
living, as a citizen and brother, should exhibit on this occasion, not 
only their profound sense of the national bereavement in this sudden 
dispensation of an all-wise Providence, but also their respect for the 
memory of one who has stood prominent throughout the civilized 
world, for the marvellous manifestation of his intellectual efforts in 
favor of Constitutional Freedom, and as the Champion, Defender, and 



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Expounder of our great national character — that brilliant light 
which is , destined, like a pillar of fire, to lead the present benighted 
nations of the earth to Liberty and Independence — Therefore, 

Eesolved^ That in common with every district in this wide con- 
federacy, we regard the death of Da:siel Webstee as an affliction, 
not merely, of a national character, but as one which can be circum- 
scribed by no other boundaries than the intelligence and civilization 
which may exist throughout the world at large. 

liesolved^ That brilhant as may have been the annals of this Young 
American Eepublic in the number of its highly gifted statesmen, yet 
no page of its history will exhibit in brighter, or more enduring colors 
the power of human intellect or patriotic sentiment, than the efiorts 
of Daniel Webstes in defence of the Constitution, of the Union of 
the States, and the fair and legitimate authority of the general Gov- 
ernment. 

Besohed^ That without distinction of sect or party, we mingle our 
tears with the nation at large, at this great bereavement, which has 
thus suddenly stricken down the last of tlie four brilliant lights of the 
present century. Iso more shall their clarion voices be heard in our 
national councils, instructing, illustrating, and electrifying the world 
with the great truths of political science and constitutional liberty. — 
But we cannot avoid the consolatory reflection, that they have left 
behind them the rich legacy of their colossal intellects and lofty sen- 
timents, which like the beacon fires of old, shall continue to blaze on 
every hill, until universal and well regulated constitutional freedom 
and independence shall be enjoyed by all the nations of the earth. 

Hesolved^ That in the galaxy of great and brilliant spirits whose re- 
splendent glories have overspread the American continent during the 
present century, we cannot but regard Daxiel TVebstee as one of 
the greatest lights in this mighty constellation, and which, on its go- 
ing out, has cast a dark shadow over the land — how justly and ap- 
propriately may we ask — 

'* And is ho gone? The pure of the purest, 
The hand that upheld our bright banner the surest. 
Is he gone from our struggles aM'ay ? 
But yesterday lending a People new life, 
Cold, mute in the coffin to day I" 

Mr. T. T. Dayis seconded the motion to adopt these resolutions 
with the following remarks : 

Me. Chaieman — In seconding the motion to adopt the preamble 
and resolutions which have been presented, it may appear unneoes- 



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sary to add anything to tlie brilliant enlopry tliero pronounced. Yet 
when I remember the circumstances under which we are assembled, 
when I know that on this day, and at this hour, the remains of the 
great Statesman and Patriot are being committed to the repose of the 
tomb, I feel tliat it may not be inappropriate to allude to the pro. 
eminent worth and services of the great man who has passed away. 

We are assembled without distinction of party, to render the last 
tribute of respect to one long distinguished in our national councils ; 
one who though a partisan, was more than a partisan — a Pateiot ; one 
who made his daty to his country paramount ; all else subordinate. — 
It was this which made Mr. Webster great ; that whenever the cir- 
cumstances of his country required it, discarding all lines of party dis- 
tinction or association, he sought only the common glory and inter- 
est of the country which he loved. 

He is dead ! But he has left behind him monuments which will 
never perish, and in the records of our legislation, memorials which 
cannot die. He has departed, but the echoes of that voice which 
spoke only in wisdom still linger around us, and those tones which 
electrified the Senate and the ISTation, and borne upon the wings of 
the wind, inspired the civilized nations of Europe — the world, will 
still be heard in the ear of tradition, wherever the terople of constitu- 
tional liberty shall be erected. 

History will recount and treasure up the services he rendered to 
the nation, and will point to him as a sentinel on the watchtower of 
Freedom, ever vigilant, ever faithfd, ever ready to do his duty, and 
his whole duty in her defence. 

When Mr. Webster first entered the councils of the Nation, he 
was the representative of a State, which, like the other States of 
New England, was opposed to the pending war with Great Britain. 
His sentiments in reference to the war sympathized with those of his 
constituents. . Yet what was his course ? was he the partizan ? No ; 
the patriot was above the partisan ; and he voted to sustain the ad- 
ministration in the prosecution of the war, and to do it efteotively, to 
secure an honorable peace. Yvlth a comprehensive view of the rela- 
tive position of the two countries, ho declared our true policy in the 
conflict with England, was to meet her on her element, the ocean 
one over which she claimed an almost supremo and exclusivo'dominion. 
The counsel was adopted, and we all know the series of great and 
brilliant victories which succeeded. 



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6 

Again, we find him in the Senate, when sonthern nulification, with 
its theory of State Rights, attempted the subversion of the constitu- 
tion, and the dismemberment of the confederacy. He was the Amer- 
ican patriot still,and in an argument of transcendent power and beauty, 
he demonstrated the entire incompatibihty of southern views, with 
the character and principles of the government; and the time-honored 
and glorious Constitution of the Union, though temporarily surround- 
ed with darkness and clouds, found safety beneath the ^gis of his 
protection. 

Mr. Webstee loved liberty not in his own country alone, but 
throughout the world ; but he desired liberty without license, the 
enjoyment of natural rights and civil freedom, with those restraints 
essential not only to its existence, but perpetuity. His sympa- 
thies were with the oppressed, and if Greece, once poor and down- 
trodden in the dust ; if Greece to-day could know among her moun- 
tains and her classic vales that he is dead, that that voice whose 
matchless eloquence in 182 J: advocated her rights, and told the story 
of her wrongs, she with her sons then living, and with their children 
to whom his championship has been recounted, would unite with 
this great confederacy of sorrowing States, to do him honor at the 
tomb. 

South American independence found in him an able advocate and 
defender. And whenever and wherever occasion demanded or re- 
quired, he stood the friend of national and progressive liberty. 

It is not long since that we saw Mr. Webster in the Senate of the 
United States, at a period when violent domestic discord menaced 
our peace. Alarm was general and deep, the fabric of the govern- 
ment seemed to totter on its basis, and the violence of the convulsion 
threatened to upheave the massive walls on which the structure had 
been reared. His course in this emergency was one which was con- 
sistent with his patriot life. The country and the constitution were 
to be saved in his judgment only by a course which was to him a 
sacrifice of personal friendships and politicarassociations. 

He became the advocate and defender of those measures of com- 
promise which he deemed essential to the public good, and under the 
sanction of his great name they became the law of the land, and the 
harbinger of peace. 

We have his example before us. As a partizan he teaches us to re- 
member that our first duty is not to the party with which we may 
be associated, but to the constitution under which wo live. But if 



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Mr. "Webster was great as a patriot,' he was also great as a civilian 
and diplomatist. Indeed, lie was great every where — great while 
living, and his dying greatness overshadows the length and breadth 
of the Eepublic. As a diplomatist he was always high-minded and 
pure, yet ever the friend of the heli)less and oppressed. "Who will 
forget that sympathy for bleeding Hungary which called forth his 
scathing rebuke of Austrian insolence and tyranny, and his defence 
ofthe right of freemen to desire the advancement of free govern^ 
ments and institutions. In his professional life, Mr. W. was equally 
great, and yet in all that he ever uttered at the bar or in the forum, 
there was no principle asserted at which the strictest moralist could 
complain, nor one word which could cause a blush on the cheek of 
virtue. 

Mr. Webstee oftered the high testimony of his sincere belief to the 
truths of religion.*.,; His ^'mighty, intellect investigated the great 
scheme of man's salvation, and found it adapted to the wants and 
condition of the world. Christianity therefore received from him 
bis most grateful and heartfelt veneration. 

He is gone ! The great man of the country and the age has depart- 
ed. His sun Jias set, but the world is not darkened, for the sky is yet 
bright and glorious with the gorgeousness of that setting. Time 
will pass on, but the fame of Daniel "Webster will not perish. The 
massive monument which will survive in his eloquence longer than 
the solid granite'^ which forms it, shall crumble away ; but the glori- 
ous name which he leavesH^ehind him, a tower of defense to Liberty 
in after ages, standing like that column which his own genius has 
consecrated, shall still live ; and though no morning sun may gild it, 
yet when the sun of the Union shall go down, its departing rays shaU 
"linger and play upon its summit." 

Mr. Newcomb followed : — 

The gigantic "Webster is no more ! The colossal temple which 
towered on this continent for nearly a half century, the pride of the 
nation, and the idol of New England, has fallen ! His great soul has 
burst the frail bonds which held it here, and he has gone to the God 
who gave it, and nought remains on earth but his clayey tenement 
which will soon moulder to dust. His manly voice will no more be 
heard in courts of justice ; senatorial halls will no more resound with 
his burning elo(iuence ; and now while I speak, all that remains of 
Daniel "Webster lies cold and stiffened indeath, at his own Marsh- 
field, surrounded by relatives and friends, overwhelmed with sorrow 



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8 

and grief. The sad burial rites will soon be over, and the tomb will 
close over his remains, but the name of Webstee will live. 

As the splendid oratorical elibrts of a Demosthenes and Cicero 
have^survived the vrreck of time, and have come down to us in all 
their original beauty and strength, although many of the columns of 
ancient Greece and Kome are in ruins — so the mighty efforts of a 
Webster will thrill the heart of the future reader, far down the 
stream of time, and long after the proudest columns in America 
shall have crumbled. And long after the Bunker Hill Monument 
shall have been prostrated, the speech of the Great "Webstee at the 
laying of its corner stone will be read and admired and wept over. 

I have never been bound to Mr. Webstee by any party ties, yet 
from my childhood, I have been an ardent admirer of the man. In 
my school boy days, I loved to read and re-read his great speeches 
on public occasions, and some of his wondrous efforts in the Senate, 
and I read them now with pleasure : they are massive, and possess a 
beauty, solidity and strength combined, unsurpassed, if equalled, by 
any of the efforts of his compeers, although many of them were men 
of astonishing power and great ability. The great Constitutional 
Expounder is dead ! Yet he is not even now fully appreciated, and 
will not be until the bitterness of party and factional spirit shall have 
died away, and become forgotten; but posterity will do him justice. — 
He has left his impress upon the age ; and no history can be written 
of the times in which ho lived, on the page of which the name of 
Daniel Webster will not be emblazoned in letters of living hght. — 
The great men of the Nation are fast fading away ; lesser men are 
continually falling around us, and we should be admonished that our 
stay here is short, and that we may, when this prefatory state shall 
cease — and the shadows of this life shall have passed away — be fully 
prepared to enter upon that state of enduring and real existence, be- 
yond the shores of time. 

Ml*. Baldwin followed with these remarks : — 

Sorrowful indeed is the occasion that calls us together. But yes- 
terday we were assembled to pay the last tribute of respect to the 
memory of the deeply lamented Clat, and now we are convened to 
pay a like tribute to his illustrious compeer. 

Afflictive indeed are these dispensations upon their families and 
friends, and upon the ISTation at large. 

It is true that they have both been gathered to their fatlicrs in 
good old age, and after a long and well spent life ; but these consid- 



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9 

eraticns rather aggravate than assuage our grief, for they have taught 
us their value, and our irreparable loss. 

When our country shall again require an able and faithful expoun- 
der of its organic law— when her rights shall be again assailed by 
foreign diplomacy or aggression— when aristocratic and kingly pow- 
er shall again require rebuke— wlien the great principles upon which 
the rights of man and international laws are founded shall again re- 
quire to b€ proclaimed and vindicated— nay, sir, when our gJod Ship 
of State shall again be tossed upon the wild ocean of civil discord, 
and about to be engulfed amid its angry waves— in these trying 
times, where shall we find a AVebster to meet the crisis, and by his 
moral courage, gigantic intellectual power and patriotic zeal, bring 
us the required aid, and save us from destruction. Alas ! alas ! none 
such will be found in our deep distress as the anxious inquiry shall 
pass from mouth to mouth through the entire extent of our beloved 
country, " Where is he ?" Empty, dismal echo will answer, " Where 
is he?" 

As a jurist— as an able pleader at the Bar— as an Orator, Mr. 
Webstek had no superior, and as a Statesman and Expounder of the 
great principles of international and constitutional laws, he had no 
equal in this, or any other country. 

To these exalted traits of character, he united in an eminent de- 
gree, those of husband, father, friend and neighbor, and in all these 
relations, will be most deeply and sincerely lamented. Be it our du- 
ty, as it is our privilege, to hold his name and exalted worth and 
services in grateful remembrance, and unite in this deep expression 
of general grief and mourning. 

A vote was then taken on the resolutions, and they were adopted 
unanimously. 

Mr. Davis then offered the following resolution, which was adopt- 
ed: — 

Eesolved, That the bells of the churches be tolled tliis afternoon 
from 3 till 4 o'clock, and that the flags be lowered at lialf mast. 

Alderman Salmon then proposed tliat the resolutions adopted by 
this meeting be placed on file by the Common Council. 

Ex-Mayor Baldwin then offered the following resolution : 

Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to make suitable ar- 
rangements for paying a further tribute to the memory of Daniel 
Webster, and to select a proper person to pronounce a Eulogy on 
that occasion. 



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10 

The resolntion was adopted, and the following named gentlemen 
were appointed such committee : — 

Messrs. Harvey Baldwin, T. T. Davis, Daniel Dana, Hervey 
Ehoades, Johnson Hall, B. Davis Noxon, James R. Lawrence, James 
Lynch, John G. Eorbes, D. 0. Salmon, J. L. Newcomb, M. D. Bur- 
net, James M. Taylor, J. S. Sabin, J. L. Bagg, J. D. Hawley, 0. J. 
Ruger, G. E. Smith, L. P. Hawley, W. H. Hoyt, Michael Lynch, 
John McCarthy, Jas. Noxon, H. W. Allen, D. S. Geere, Chas. Tall- 
man, "Wm. C. Brown, H. D. Hatch, Robert Richardson, Daniel 
Pratt, H. W. Stilwell, D. E:irkpatrick, G. F. Oomstock, G. N. Ger- 
main, J. J. Miles, R. F. Trowbridge, B. D. Noxon, Jr., Rnfus Stan- 
ton, Yolney Green. 

His Honor, Mayor TV^oodeuff, was on motion, added to the Com- 
mittee. 

The time for celebrating the Obsequies was then fixed on Saturday, 
the 13th of iSTovember. 

The following resolution by Hon. H. Baldwin, was then adopted : 

Besolvedy That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the 
city papers, and that a copy be forwarded to the family of the deceas- 
ed. The meeting then adjourned. 

JASON 0. WOODRUFF, President. 

Daniel Dana, 
Thos. T. Davis, 
Hakvey Baldwin, 

Vice Prest's. 
S. CoENiNG JrDD, Sec'y. 

The Committee selected as Eulogist on the occasion, Mr. Thomas 
T. Davis of Syracuse, and the Obsequies were celebrated at the ap- 
pointed time. The procession formed at the Syracuse House at 2 
o'clock, and proceeded to the 1st Presbyterian Church, in the follow- 
ing order. 

1st. Young men. 

2d. Eulogist and Mayor. 

3d. Pall-bearers. 

4th. Ofl&ciating Clergy. 

6th. Committee of Arrangements. 

6th. Citizens of the City and Country. 

At the Church an appropriate dirge was performed by the Choir. 
Prayer was offered by Rev. E. D. Maltbie. 



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11 

The Benediction was pronounced by Eev. Dr. Gregory. 

After the celebration of the Obsequies, the Committee of Ar- 
rangements adopted a Resolution to request of Mr. Davis a copy of 
the Eulogy for publication. His Ilonor, Mayor "Woodruff, ,was del- 
egated to carry out this request. He accordingly addressed Mr. D. 

the following 

LETTER: 

Syracuse, Nov. 15tb, 1S52. 
Tnos. T. Davis, Esq. — Dear Sir : I have great pleasure in communicating to you the 
following Eesolul ions offered by B. Davis Noxon, Esq., and seconded by lion. M. D. 
BtTRNET, at the late "Webster Meeting, held at the First Presbyterian Church in this city 
on the 13th inst., viz : 

Resolved, That the thanks of the Committee of Arrangements be presented to Thos. 
T. Davis, Esq., for his excellent Address on the Life and Character of the late DANIEL 
WEBSTER, and that Mr. Da\t;3 be requested to furnish a copy for publication, and 
when published, that a copy thereof be forwarded to the deeply afflicted family of the 
deceased. 

Resolved, That his Honor, Mayor "Woodruff, be a Committee to carry the foregoing 
Eesolution into effect. 

To these Resolutions, allow me to add an expression of my own high appreciation of 
your excellent Address, and to unite my individual and earnest request with that of the 
Committee of Arrangements, that you will comply with their wishes, and furnish a copy 
for publication. 

I have the honor to be with great respect, 

Your Obedient Servant, 

JASON C. WOODEUTF. 



TO ■Wincn HE EECEITEI) THIS EEPLT t 

My Dear Sib :— I herewith place at your disposal the Eulogy pronounced by me upon 
the late and lamented DANIEL "WEBSTEE, a copy of which is solicited in 
your communication of the 15th. 

For the terms in which the committee and yourself have been pleased to allude to the 
Address, I proffer my gratetul acknowledgments. I am aware that it is imperfect. — 
Indeed, I sought to confine myself so far as was allowable, to Mr. "Wbbsteb in his Amer- 
ican character, and to present his conserv'ative sentiments, and patriotic action to the im- 
itation of the young, and the admiration of all. 

If in this view, its publication may subserve a useful purpose, I shall be content even 
with its imp^ fections. 

"With sentiments of high regard, I remain. Dear Sir, 

Your Ob't Servant, 
To Hon. J. C. WooDEUFF, Committee. THOS. T. DAVIS. 

Byracuae, Nov. 16, 1S52. 



4J.- 



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Thomas T. Davis, Esq., having been appointad by the Committee 
of Arrangements, delivered the following 

ADDRESS: 

The emblems of bereavement which sniTOimd this temple ; the 
linoferiiio' echoes of the funeral bell: the mournful sadness which 
pervades this place, assure me, tliat this multitude of the living is 
here to commemorate the dead. 

There is a tomb in Marshfield, by the ocean shore : no rising 
column marks it to the gaze ; its simple impress is Daniel Web- 
ster's name ; it guards no treasure but his dust ; yet to that tomb, 
sacred amid its loneliness and desolation, freemen shall turn their 
steps, and blend their note of sorrow with the dirge of waves, for 
the calm sleeper there. 

The event which has now broken upon us in its far-reaching and 
overwhelming reality, produced in its announcement a strange 
startling ot the public mind. jSTotwithstanding the intelligence of 
his illness had been previously received, yet when the news of his 
death came to us on the lightning's wing, we scarce could give it 
credence. 

Mr. Webster had, so long, in our memories and knowledge, 
been identified with the Government and the Constitution, that he 
seemed part and parcel of their very being, so interwo\'en and 
blended with them, in all our thoughts, that it were almost 
impossible he could die, and ihey survive. 

Yet was it true, the silver cord was loosed — the golden bowl 
was broken, and that day of the last month was a sad day, when 
States shrouded with sables, and a weeping Nation went forth " To 
bury Caesar and to praise him." 

To all it seemed that National afflictions did not come alone. — 
The Sage of Quincy had gone to his rest — the gallant Taylor was 
no more — the great Calhoun had fallen — Ashland was still weep- 
ino- for her own. One, and one only, greater than all, remained, 
and now the grave claimed him. 



13 

The brilliant planets of our system had withdrawn their light. 
Now the sun ceased to shine — clouds and darkness mantled the 
skies. The question rose unanswered to the lip, — who shall re- 
kindle the stars in their spheres ? — when shall a new sun arise, 
the source of light, the centre of attraction ? 

We felt as the mariner might feel, who. far out on the ocean, 
saw the guide stars of his course, night after night, fade out one by 
one, and the sun at last, veiling its light, sink unreturning to the 
deep, leaving his bark amid surrounding darkness, driven by un- 
seen currents to a shore unknown. 

But we have our consolation : the twilight yet lingers on the 
paths which his genius illuminated,and in which his counsels direct 

us. 

In the review of Mr. Wfbster's Hfe, appropriate to this occa- 
sion, I must pass unnoticed the materials for eulogy strown in rich 
profusion along the history of his time, and content myself with a 
reminiscence necessarily imperfect. I cannot follow him to his 
farms, where his great example, and his scientific labors gave dig- 
nity to agriculture. I cannot enter his delightful home to depict 
the charms which unequalled powers of conversation, and the 
goodness of his heart lent to domestic and social hours. 

I desire rather, to-day, to speak of Daniel Webster as he, on 
an occasion of self-sacrificing devotion to the public weal, wished 
to speak ; " not as a Massachusetts man, not as a Northern man, 
but as AN American." 

I desire to bury in the deep obscurity of the tomb, whatever of 
party feeling or local prejudice may seek existence here, and to 
learn from his life the immeasurable superiority of genuine pat- 
riotism to the evanescent claims of party or sectional interests. — 
All that remains to us of his labors — all that survives in the mon- 
uments of his intellectual power,— all that is immortal in his elo- 
quence — all that is great in his example, bequeathed to no party 
and no ape^ is the common inheritance of the present and the fu- 
ture, his country and the world. 

Mr. Webster w^as born to no possession but poverty. The 
blood which coursed his veins liad no tinge of nobility, save that 



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14 

wbicli nature, by a law, higher than princely favor, had bestowed. 
No patronage of Avealth or influence opened to him the pathway 
to success. His fortunes and his fame were the creations of his 
own genius, the triumphs of his own power. 

Cradled amid the scenic grandeurs of a mountain home, the 
air he breathed was redolent of Freedom. The glories of nature 
were the companions of his youth. 

•* Where rose the mountains, there to him were friends : 
Where the storms gathered, there to hira was home." 

The towering majesty of his thoughts, the stately dignity of his 
words, were the fitting impress of that wild region where Nature 
held converse with her child. 

And in after life, on other heights where tempests of political 
commotion burst around him, rising in solitary grandeur above 
surrounding greatness, he stood calm and at home^ where 

" Far along, 
From peak to peak the rattling crags among, 
Leaped the live thunder, not from one lone cloud, ' 
But every mountain then had found a tongue. 
And Jura answered through her misty shroud, 
Back to the joyous A'ps which called to her aloud." 

In reference to the early life of Mr. Webster it will be proper 
to mention that he was born at Salisbury, N. H., in 1782 — that 
by great economy on the part of his parents, aided by his own 
frugality, he acquired a liberal education at Dartmouth College, 
which he entered in 1797, and from which he was graduated with 
ordinary honors, in 1801. 

I am inclined to doubt whether at this period he gave full cur- 
rent to his powers. In the recitation room, he was always respec- 
table, though a gentleman who was his class-mate, for a time, I 
think his room-mate, and always his friend, has often told me 
that the lessons of his course received but little of his attention.* 
He read much. History and Biography were studies, — the mis- 
cellaneous works within his reach were not unnoticed. Poetry 
was not neglected. Sometimes he himself, " woo'dthe Muse," but 
I am not aware that she was kind enough to return his affection. 



*Dr. Josiah Noyes, Clinton, N. Y. 



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15 

He deliglited most iu solitary commimiou with his own <rreat 
thoughts, by the sparkling stream, or in the silent forest. 

His powers of memory were astonishing;— no fact garnered from 
the past— no thought wrested from the present, was forgotten ; 
but treasured in that great brain, slumbered there, till some future 
necessity arousing the sluggishness of nature, called it forth 
in the power of its original impression. 

The close of his collegiate course, conceding great natural genius, 
gave him no special promise of distinction. Time, and the urgen- 
cies of life alone, matured that unclouded mind, which in the 
splendor of its meridian glories, and the subdued effulgence of its 
evening rays, revealed itself a mysterious and sublime manifesta- 
tion of intellectual power. 

In 1805 he was admitted to the honors and practice of the le- 
gal profession. He had studied and admired that system of juris- 
prudence on which Bacon and Coke, and Blackstone had graven 
their deathless names ; and inspired by stern necessity, and a new 
ambition, he became distinguished for ability and learning, where 
Mason and Story were competitors for fame. 

I am unwilling to detain you by following Mr. Webster in 
that career which placed him beyond all question, in the very front 
of American or European Jurists. I will refer only to the cases 
of Dartmouth College, vs. Woodward, Gibbons, vs. Ogden, and the 
case of the Rhode Island Insurrection, as establishing his reputa- 
tion as a Constitutional La wyer. The criminal trials in which he 
was engaged, vindicate his fame as a jury advocate. His argu- 
ment in the case of Girard College, was a triumphant exposition'^of 
the claims of morality and religion upon the protection of Law. 

By his constitutional arguments he led the Courts to a correct 
appreciation of the powers inherent in the people, under Republi- 
can Institutions, of powers delegated by the People tg the States, 
and powers surrendered by the States to the general government 
under the Constitution. So profound, so convincing were his 
views of Constitutional powers, that grave Judges on the bench, 
including the venerated Marshall, made public aekno^vIedgraent 
for his aid. 



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16 

Probably no American Jurist was ever retained in so many 
causes of such paramount importance, or gratified -vvitli such uni- 
Tersal success. 

In 1813 Mr. Webster took his seat in Congress as a Kepre- 

sentative from New-Hampshire. 

We were at war with the mightiest Empire which was, or had 
ever been. England, proud England, was the mistress of the 
ocean. She had roused the slumbers of the Pyramids by the 
thunders of her cannon. She had borne her resistless arms to the 
plains of Palestine, and the sources of the Danube. The em- 
blems of her power shaded the sacred w^aters of the Ganges, and 
on the Pacific's shore, claimed the Columbia's flood. 

It was a war of which disaster and defeat had been the only 
issues. Thrice had we attempted the invasion of Canada — thrice 
had we failed. Treason had disgraced even defeat. Not yet had 
the daring gallantry of Scott restored the honor of our arms. 

New Hampshire, indeed all New England regarded that war as 
inexpedient, and until the milder remedy of mediation had been 
exhausted, almost unjust. Commerce was then the business of New 
England. The embargo was ruin to that commerce — her ships 
were rotting at their peirs. 

In alluding to the position of Mr. Webster in this connexion, I 
desire to vindicate his character from the aspersion that he was not 
American in his feelings, or Patriotic in his action. 

He did not, as has been asserted, advise an abandonment of the 
war. He counselled only a change in its direction, a change sug- 
gested by the geographical relation and physical position of the 
parties, and forced upon us by the conviction of its necessity. 

AYe had no navy worthy of a name ; but said Mr. Webster, re- 
ferring to England, and quoting her own poet ; 

^" Her march is on the mountain wave, 
llcr home is on the deep." 

" I am for calling upon lier, and paying our respects to her at 
Jionv^ — I am for giving her to know that we too^ have a right of 
way upon the sea. — I am for giving play to the gallant and burn- 
ing spirit of our navy, and sending it forth upon the wave to en- 



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17 

counter on an open and equal field, whatever the proudest and 
bravest of the enemy may bring against it. I know the character 
of our officers, and the spirit of our seamen, and though -in their 
hands the flag of the country may go down to the bottom, it will 
go down with the7n, neither dishonored nor disgraced. Augment 
your navy: that navy will in turn protect your commerce, you 
will be able to redress injuries in the place where they may be offered, 
and if need be, accompany your flag throughout the world, with the 
protection of your own cannon." 

I offer no commentary upon this language. Our subsequent 
triumphs on the ocean; the brilliant victories of McDonough and 
Perry on the Lakes interpreted its meaning to England and the 
world. 

At the close of the war, the powers of Mr. Webster were ex- 
erted to advance the country in the arts of peace— to increase its 
commerce, and to give strength and security to our financial system. 

In 1816, he removed from Portsmouth to Boston, and immedi- 
ately after the close of his Congressional term, resumed the prac- 
tice of his profession. His eminent ability gave him a most ex- 
tensive and lucrative business, and it was then his determination 
no longer to participate in the political questions of the times. 
But he was never deaf to the call of duty. Solicited by his fellow 
citizens to serve the State, he was for a short term a member of 
the Legislature, and soon after was elected as delegate to the 
Convention to revise the State Constitution. In the deliberations 
of that bod}^ he exercised a powerful influence, and left upon its 
records the impress,of his genius— the evidence of his attachment 
to popular liberty, restrained by the spirit of obedience to law. 

Indeed, at the hazard of denial in certain quarters, 1 must as- 
sert my sincere conviction that Daniel Webster was ever the 
friend of Liberty for the sake of Max. He desired it with its bless- 
ings to encircle the globe as with a new atmosphere— that on 
what distant land soever man might imprint his step ; to whatev- 
er shore the winds and waves might bear him, he might still find 
himself inhaling the air, and guarded by the Genius of Freedom. 
Nor did be hesitate on all appropriate occasions to proclaim 

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the sentiments -which had their source in the deep^ well-springs of 
his heart 

After long centuries of debasement, the land of Solon and Leon- 
idas asserted its independence of Turkish domination. On fields 
immortalised by her ancient heroes, then gory with recent blood, 
she sought to plant again the banner of the cross. 

" 'Twas Greece, but living Greece, no more," 

The Acropolis and the Parthenon no longer cast their shadows 
from the sun ; temple and fane and altar had decayed — the 
Ilyssus still sent its tribute to the deep, but Beauty's face no more 
was mirrored from its wave ; it bore no tone of Eloquence or Mu- 
sic to the ocean. 

But modern Greece was rightful heir through long ancestral 
line to a fame which Art and Genius had immortalised. The songs 
of Sappho yet woke the echoes of her isles, still 

" Marathon looked on the sea." 

Greece called to us for aid, and modern Greeks were men. 

Obedient to the sympathies of his own nature, Mr. Webster, 
then in the House of Representatives, in Jan. 1824, introduced a 
resolution equivalent to a recognition of the independence of 
Greece. He sustained it with a fervid eloquence which, in the re- 
he9,rsal of her ancient glories, seemed to rear again her fallen 
shrines, and in the story of her recent Avrongs, to wake the very 
marble into life. 

So too, in the cause of Liberty in Southern and Central Ameri- 
ca. ^Ir. Webster felt and manifested a livelv interest. And 
still more recently, when the illustrious Hungarian stood by the 
shores of the Propontis, alike a prisoner and an exile — by whose 
power were his shackles loosed ? whose hand spread above him the 
banner of the free ? 

Neither yet is forgotten that living epistle, worthy of perpetual 
remembrance, which asserted to Empires and Thrones, the right, 
the duty, and the determination of Americans to lend the aid of 
their active sympathies to the down-trodden of every clime. 

Daniel Webster will descend to after times, admired and be- 
loved for his high advocacy of the rights of man, when those who, 






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in the name of Liberty, trample on its spirit^ shall be forgotten in 
the tomb. 

The Senate of the United States was the great theatre of Mr. 
Webster's oratorical fame. How often, when dangers thickened 
there, did the nation hang its hopes upon his powerful arm ! 

It was there the fell spirit of Disunion uttered the false doctrine, 
that the Constitution was only a compact between indej^endeiit 
States possessing no central or controlling power which each con- 
federate might not disown — that no star of the constellation mov- 
ed round the sun, save by the law of its own will ; and there the 
proud Genius of Secession, bright fallen Son of the Morning, sat 
glowing in anticipated triumphs, gazing at the fiery orb his own wand 
had stricken from its course, shooting athwart the heavens, brilhant 
with danger ; it was the7'e amid this scene of discord and dismay, the 
great American appeared in the majesty of power ; not like the 
Israelite of old, to arrest the Sun, but to proclaim that law which 
bound the spheres and Sun together in harmonious union. He 
spoke ; and as that deep voice came forth, the swaying planets 

heard it and obeyed ; the shooting star resumed the circle of its 
motion. 

Mr. Webster's love for his country and the constitution, was 
the controlling principle of his life. He lived for them. He was 
wilKng to die for them, j^o act of his appears to me to manifest 
this attachment in a higher degree than that for which he has 
been most calumniated and reviled. 

The idea that Dakiel Webster was the friend of Slavery, is 
repudiated by his whole history. He was its enemy. He de- 
plored its existence — he sought to limit its domain. The annexa- 
tion of Texas was resisted by him from the beginning, because he 
was hostile to slavery. He proclaimed every where and aloud, 
that annexation was a Southern scheme to extend and perpetuate 
the slave power. Texas was already dedicated to slavery. He predic- 
tedWar with Mexico as the inevitable result of annexation. That voice 
of warning was heard even by his calumniators. Did they heed it ? 
Did they don their armor and hasten to the rescue? 

The two great political parties of the Union ditiered, honestly no 
doubt, in respect to the etTect of annexation. The scheme was 



20 

successful. War followed. The wave w^hicli broke upon tbe Rio 
Grande rolled on to the Pacific. New Mexico and California be- 
came our own — but by the lundamental law of Mexico, they were 
free from slavery. 

Neither time nor your patience will permit me to enlarge upon 
the controversy familiar to all, which resulted in the admission of 
this newly acquired territory, without restiiction as to slavery. — 
Mr. Webster was not responsible for iis acquisition — he was not 
responsible for its results. lie regarded that controvei-sy in its 
threatene i effects upon the Union. At any hazard — at any sacri- 
fice that must be preserved. 

On every hand dangers menaced that Union. The North de- 
termined — the South resolved. States which had drawn their 
strength from the protection of the Government, raised the banner 
of secession ; and Southern statesmen, as if in insult to the illus- 
trious dead, were assembling by the grave of Andrew Jackson to 
sunder the last ties which bound the North and South, the East 
and West together in the unity of the Republic. 

I do not say that disunion v.'ould have resulted from the prohi- 
bition of slavery in the new territory ; but Mr. Webster feared 
it — it was by no means impossible. He knew that secession, if it 
came, would come not with peace, but with the sword and the 
fire-brand, shedding the blood of brother by a brother's hand, and 
giving our homes and altars to the flame. 

He felt still the same abhorrence of slavery he had ever felt — 
but he believed this contest was unnecessary — this danger self- 
created. He believed that African slavery was effectually and 
forever excluded from that region by that natural law which cap- 
ped her mountains with perpetual snows and made her valleys 
sterile in perpetual shade. Slaver}'-, child of the Sun, had never 
survi\-ed the i-igors of such a clime — nor would it now. More- 
over, slavery could not exist without law ; and the Anglo-Saxon 
race, moving westward in the triumphs of civilization, would per- 
mit no stain of servitude on that soil. 

It was, therefore, because he believed the prohibition a nullity^ 
and that its omission would quiet the Southern mind, and tend to 






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21 

the security of the Union, that on the 7th of March, 1850, he pro- 
claimed his opposition to any restrictive feature in the bill, admit- 
ting California, Utah, and New Mexico. Ilis prediction, thus 
far, has been verified. California has repudiated slavery — New 
Mexico and Utah will doubtless follow her example. 

The provisions for reclaiming fugitives from service, he regarded 
as consistent with the stipulations of the Constitution to which he 
had sworn fidelity, and a necessary concession to the spirit of 
union, lie, therefore, sustained those provisions. It was a tear- 
ful sacrifice to paramount duty. He performed that duty fearless- 
ly, conscientiously, " leaving his actions and his motives to the 
impartial judgment of posterity." Yet for that duty, thus per- 
formed, he has been traduced and proscribed by men who know 
not the meaning of Patriotism, nor feel its power. For this^ their 
curses followed him while living — and scarcely had the grave fold- 
ed him to its embrace, when infidel Fanaticism, in the temple of a 
God unknown — in piiestly robes which it dishonored, and beneath 
the very shadows of that pile which marks the birth-place of our 
liberties, poisoned the air with its foul anathemas on him who was 
allied to Freedom and his Country, by the devotion of his life. 

I am not here to-day to say that Daniel Webster was fault- 
less. True, he possessed an intellect which in its transcendent 
brightness was not like other men's — his form, moulded by match- 
less power into faultless majesty, was not like other men's : still 
was he imperfect, for he was mortal. Unlike his revilers, he 
claimed to he imperfect ; he regretted his faults ; he lamented his 

errors. 

The Sun, hung high in Heaven, imparts light and warmth to 
the world : it mantles the valleys and mountains with flowers and 
the forest, ripens the harvest to the reaper's hand, ami sinking 
beneath the wave, lights up the evening sky with its reflected 
glories. Bright, dazzling, gorgeous as it is, are there no spots 
upon its brow ? Yet who, though scientific scrutiny has detected 
imperfection there — unseen save by those who seek it — would 
madlv wish to strike it from the firmament, denying alike its l>€- 
neficence and beauty ? 



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The sluraberer of Marslifield is deaf to censure — he is insensible 
even to praise. 

" Can storied urn or animated bust 

Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath ? 
Can Honor's voice provoke the silent dust, 
Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull, cold ear of Death ?" 

Mr. Webster, iu the department of diplomacy, rendered valua- 
ble service to the country. Our foreign relations were conducted 
by him with distinguished ability and fidelity. In this service, as 
in all else, he was American ; and while the honor of the nation 
was thus committed to his hands, all of all parties and all sections 
felt that he would be faithful to the trust. 

I have thus given a most imperfect sketch of Daniel Webster's 
jDublic life and character, and if there were errors I have not por- 
trayed, still they stand redeemed by a long catalogue of unmen- 
tioned virtues. 

But life has its end. Daniel Webster died — died at home — 
that home which to him was all that Tusculanum was to Tully. 
Nature had made it beautiful as it looked out on the Atlantic. — 
Taste added the charms of Art to its natural beauties ; Science 
had gathered there its richest treasures, and domesticlove breathed 
its pure spirit upon all. It was a fitting ^jZace to die. 

His death wa •. worthy of his life. He died in the fullness of 
his years, in the service of his country, in the discharge of his duty, 
in the fear of his God, in the assurance of Heaven I It was a fit- 
ting tiine to die. 

His life teaches us how to live for our country — his death teach- 
es us how to die for ourselves. All, all must die ; yet the mortal 
is immortal, the dying deathless. 

" An angel's arm can't snatch me from the grave : 
Legions of angels can't confine me there." 

Daniel AVecster yielded his intellect to the belief, his heart to 
the power of a Divine Revelation. The silence of his chamber 
heard the voice of prayer. The great man prayed I 

" Pr;iyer urdont opens Heaven — lets down 
A stream of glory on the consecrated hour 
Of man in audience with the Deity." 

II is long day of labor was past ; its toils were ended ; and 
when the night came on, with what calm dignity he laid down to 



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23 

rest ! No murmur, no sigli — no tear was there. The last adieus 
were said, and when Death entered to keep vigil with the dying? 
he came not in the robes of Fear, but, clothed in the livery of 
Friendship, performed the service of a friend. 

And may we not regard that closing scene of life as offering 
the sublimest testimony which could be offered to the truth that 
dying is not death ? 

The last drops were falling from the crystal fountain of life ; 
his brow was cold as the marble, which may imitate, not equal — 
his great heart was ceasing to beat — his ear no more gave au- 
dience to the ocean — his lips were mute — his eyes, closed to the 
material, gazed on the hitherto unseen ; and as the portals of a 
new world opened to his departing spirit, there came as from 
Eternity a voice speaking through those cold lips — " I still 
LIVE ;" the last tones of the dying, the first song of the immortal. 

Yes ! he still lives. His sun went down, but it was not extin- 
guished. In cloudless duration, unseen in this^ it sheds upon that 
other hemisphere of being the light of his immortal mind. 

And he still lives here — in the affections of his countrymen — 
in the imperishable records of his greatness, and in the perfection 
of his example. 

I see gathered before me now the lifelong witnesses of his 
course and his devotion — those who with him watched the young 
years of the Constitution, saw^ its dangers, triumphed in its de- 
fence, have hved the admirers of its power and the recipients of 
its blessings. I ask you aged men, did he who struggled for it so 
long, so nobly, regardless of fortune or fame if that only might be 
secure — I ask you, from his tomb, did he over-estimate its value ? 

And young men are here, in the vigor of the young. To you, 
"though he be dead, he yet speaks." To t/ou he has left the 
Constitution unharmed by violence, unimpaired by age. It sur- 
vives to the young the first, Oh I perhaps the last great memorial 
of human freedom. To you belong its glories ; on you rests its 
protection. In its defence you cannot die ingloriously or too soon. 
On its security depend the value of the present and the happiness 
of the future. 



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And let me remind you here, that those ^ho, in the dark re- 
gions of oppression, kno^Y Liberty only by the story of our exam- 
ple send to the young in this land today their prayer-" For the 
memory of your' fathers' blood, for yourselves, for your children, 
for the HONOR OF YOUR KOBLE BEAD, and for the freedom of the 
^N-orld, protect and defend forever, the integrity of the American 

Constitution." , ' ^ rr. 

Your duty done, the shade which veils the future seems to lift 
away • and through the vista of long years I see the Constitution 
of my country still rising in its beauty, like a fair temple on the 
mountain's side, bathed in the brightness of the sun. Its vestal 
fires still burn. The nations gather 'round it-before the Altar 
Time and Freedom stand; and as the song of joy swells on the 
air, Time kneels to Freedom, and the Two are One. 



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